I had a slight moment of panic when I recieved in the post a set of vintage Campagnolo C Record downtube shifters for the Walvale classic bike restoration. They came in no less than 18 teeny pieces and as they were vintage they didn’t come with an easy to follow assembly instruction manual.

After 15 minutes of the now well recognised mechanical frustration, I determined the correct order of assembly.

For all those that go after me I thought it might be useful to write down how to assemble a Campagnolo frictional gear shifter.

The photo shows the individual components laid out in the order of assembly with each part also oriented as they should be put together.

So, part A sits on the braze-on part of the down tube followed by B and C. D goes in flat side up pushed down of the protruding part of the frame. E is flat side down. Then F, G, H followed finally by the D-clip screw.

Job done, or at least almost done. I haven’t wired it up yet but that will follow in another post.

I’ve read somewhere that these frictional Campagnolo shifters were not the most reliable and have a tendency for losing the friction setting so you have to repeatedly tighten up the D-ring. I’ll report back when it’s all working.

*UPDATE*
I had some amazing assistance on the Retrobike forum and want to link back to the post as it should form a useful reference for those who may also struggle to match together the parts from a disassembled friction shifter.

On the same forum, one of the members uploaded a scanned copy of the original instructions which you can view here: Campagnolo Record Friction.

My new project arrived in a box last night. It’s a thing of beauty but is destined to cause cursing and consternation in the household.

I’m not known for my mechanical skills but I am known for flitting from one project to the next with only a book for guidance.

The book didn’t help me much last night. Mostly because it was upstairs under the bed while my workshop is in the front room. I spent two hours with my fingers trapped under the saddle guide rails trying to attach it to the seat post. I scared the kids with my swearing but finally achieved some success only to discover, as I collapsed into bed, that I’d attached the post in a back to front fashion.

This is going to be a palaver of monstrous proportions.

The bike is an old custom build from Walvale Cycles in Liverpool. It is made from Reynolds 531 tubing, although there are no transfers and it has 3/4 chromed forks and rear triangle. I haven’t found out much about Walvale Cycles, they are mentioned in Classic Lightweights but aren’t famed in the same way as other frame builders such as Holdsworth, Dave Yates or Mercian.

My plan is to source some classic campagnolo components and recreate the dream bike of my youth.

Today’s task was to fathom out how to shift the rust marks from the chrome.

I’ve had impressive results with fine steel wool and oil but I may attempt the aluminium foil and coke trick tomorrow.

By the end of day 2, I have a frame that is beginning to look rather like a bike. I’ve attached every component that required only a few turns of an allen key. I’ve got the stem, handlebar, seatpost, saddle and the brakes attached. I haven’t ventured anywhere near cabling so of course nothing works but I’m already feeling as though I’ve missed my vocation in life. I’m clearly a bike mechanic at heart.

Now I need to return to ebay to find some wheels, I haven’t a clue what I need and what will work with the rest of the components but I need wheels urgently. It won’t be til then that I can confirm that this bike will fit me.

A few days away from the hum and drum of life and I’ve already forgotten how to function.

This morning’s cycle commute was a case in point, I couldn’t get my brain into gear at all.

The moment I left the house and pushed myself down the col de Norbury, pedalling head first into the icy winds, I released I’d forgotten the windproof jacket. A few more miles of bobbing up and down on the Brooks machine of torture (aka saddle) prompted me to discover missing item number 2, the hoo haa ride and glide.

By the time I’d cycled for an hour this morning, certain essential protuberances had turned to cubes of ice and my hoo haa was non too happy.

I’ve ticked off 17.5km for the Janathon gods, hopefully I’ll be back later today with a running related offering.

Everyone hates a cyclist, even it would seem, other cyclists.

I regularly pass between the various food levels in the transport chain but rarely get lower than when I drag out the push bike. Cycle commuting is a thankless task so its fortunate then that’s it such good fun.

I haven’t used my bike since I got the motorbike but my parking space at work is under threat so I thought it would be a good opportunity to try out the cycle commute.

My route hooks up with the new CS7 cycle-superhighway that when complete will link Merton to the City and enable me to cycle much of my way along an extremely blue strip of paint work. I follow the same strip on my way in with the motorbike and it is busy, you can’t afford to veer off course by even a millimetre or you will plough through a swarm of cyclists who creep into gaps like hoards of stinging ants.

I took the Brompton in today and I’m afraid I did veer a little bit off course in places. I was buffeted by a speeding ambulance who pushed me slightly off kilter and into the path of an undertaking cyclist who dinged his bell at me provocatively until I apologised. In an attempt to cross 5 lanes of traffic near the treacherous Elephant & Castle I managed to piss off a van driver who wanted to mow me down – I could see my blood and guts reflected in his glaring eyeballs. It’s amazing how mad people can get when driving the few yards to the next red light.

Anyway, I survived it and it was a gloriously sunny day, a perfect day in fact for trying out the Polaroid sunglasses that have been sitting in my drawer for about 6 months.

I’d held back from trying these specs out as I was convinced I’d look like a particularly uncool variety of alien but once I was togged up in my biking finery I think they added the right air of determination and confidence for the task ahead.

The sunglasses come in a very well padded case that holds 3 replaceable lenses, orange for low light conditions, clear for almost everyday in the UK and these shades for the unaccustomed sunny days. They clip on and off the frame very easily but they are held firmly and I have no doubt that you could bounce down a rocky mountainside without fear of dislodging a lens.

They’ve also got a pair of rubber thingammies that hook behind the ears to ensure a firm grip of your head. It’s not firm really but they do keep the glasses in place and they would be perfect for running.

I’ve never run in sunglasses before but I’m aging fast and can’t afford any extra wrinkles caused by screwing up my eyes to avoid the glare. I’ll take these out on my next run, although I’ll probably have to clip in the orange lenses as I have a tendency to run long after sundown nowadays.

The ride back home seemed considerably more relaxed but then I was in such pain from the symmetrical buttock blisters caused by the monstrous Brooks saddle that I could barely pedal for more than 15 seconds in every 60. If you’re content to stay behind the pack, the ride can be a little less stressful.

Originally published on my warriorwomen blog.

As promised earlier, here’s the route map for the London to Brighton 2009 Bike Ride, courtesy of RunSaturday.

I’ve also added the speed splits from Sporttracks just to illustrate how painfully slow the process was. I’ve currently got my log set up to show running and jogging paces but its quite interesting to see that I was walking for at least 7 miles of the ride and barely jogging for another 4 miles.

Go early is my recommendation!

And here’s the GPS elevation, its bound to be slightly inaccurate but it gives you a feel for the route.
You can click on both images to enlarge.

Call that a bike ride….?
At one point I thought we were actually going to be walking all the way to Brighton.

Experienced L2B’ers had warned me to start the event early but I’m too lazy to get up for a 6am start. I may have had a leisurely 8:30am kick off but I very quickly regretted it. We just never seemed to get going. We crawled through Tooting and Mitcham and out towards the M25 and 3 hours and 20 mins later the garmin beeped to tell me we had just about escaped London.

3 hours and 20 minutes with a bike and we’d only travelled 19 miles and what’s more we were walking already.

The very first sign of an incline and the whole pedal pumping mass ground to a complete standstill. There was no room to weave in and out so everyone one from lycra clad mountain goats to mums on old shoppers had to dismount and walk.

Given the rather lame nature of the incline it was disheartening to say the least. I’m the worlds slowest runner but yesterday I barely managed to cycle above my half marathon pace.

I think there were something like 4 or 5 hillocks marked on the route map and all were fairly inconsequential except for the final horror – Ditchling Beacon.

The crowds must have thinned at some point because I did manage to get back on the bike and for a few brief miles I actually felt the wind in my face and enjoyed the freedom of a crazy hell for leather descent.

The route, which I’ll illustrate when I’ve got it uploaded, had the potential to be a really enjoyable jaunt into Brighton. Apart from the few little bumps that I’ve already belittled it felt like a 54 mile descent to the sea. There was a heck of a lot of high speed freewheeling to be done but I suppose sharing country lanes with 27,000 other cyclists was never going to feel much better than getting stuck behind a convoy of caravans on a bank holiday exodus from Bridlington.

Ditcling Beacon arrived eventually and the one time I hoped for a blockade of walkers, so I could just excuse myself from the trouble of attempting the ascent, they all appeared to have adopted the “walkers to the left” etiquette. There was a clearish path up and I had to attempt it. I didn’t get too far up though before I lost my rhythm bobbing in and out of bailing bikers and I joined them. It was a tough long walk up so I can only imagine it was a challenging ride.

From this vantage point I could see the sea and Dave said he could smell the pier. I thought he said, “Can you smell the beer?” and I actually thought I could. It gave me a little burst of joy and I blasted my way down onto the slip road into the town and didn’t rest until I found myself with beer and chips in hand.

Damn fine chips they were too.

The t-shirt can be viewed on the events page.

Running and therefore blogging seems to have turned into quite a struggle recently. I get to the 2k point and feel as though I can’t go any further. My body feels like lumpen clay but I think my battle is as much mental as physical. Running can be a tough nut to crack sometimes.

With only 9 weeks to go before the Great North Run, I can’t afford to be struggling with 2k runs, I need to take a grip of this thing. I set out this morning on a 6k route, started whining at 2k but pushed on to the final turn off point where I managed to persuade myself to take the extended option which brought me home after 8k. A small battle won, and one that must be built on over the next few weeks.

There’s plenty of inspiration around at the moment, Speedracer has just completed her first Ironman distance tri at Vineman after months of badass training, and Rosie Swale-Pope features in this months Runners World after completing her run around the world (well she hasn’t quite completed it yet but is back on British soil after running for almost 5 years). These are people who know how to tame the quitting demons!

While I may not be running very much I’m certainly getting in plenty of cycle practice on the Brompton – I’ve got to get some speed training under my belt as I now have competition at the Brompton World Champs, Emma’s Dave has thrown down the gauntlet and must be beaten.

I’m still struggling with that saddle though. It’s beautiful and all but it’s a weapon of torture. I have it from good authority that it will weather in time, moulding itself to my own personal contours, thereby morphing into the most comfortable saddle in the world. In the meantime it is leaving me with day long pins and needles – most disconcerting.

I had an appointment with the ortho surgeon last week about my dodgy back issue and I was grilled about possible neurological complications. One of the questions put to me was “Have you experienced numbness or pins and needles in the saddle area?” Well, what could I say?

I obviously answered incorrectly as I ended up flat on my back having my bits and pieces tickled with a feather! When a guy came into the cubicle with a gloved hand and a protruding finger, I leapt off the couch and backed out pointing at my Brooks saddle and begging for mercy. I avoided the internal interrogation but still have to go and have an MRI – it would be much cheaper to invest in a gel saddle cover.

I have just entered the Brompton World Championship race to be held at Blenheim Palace.
Catch that, a world bloody championship!

Anyway, rules state I must wear a suit jacket, collared shirt and a tie.
I don’t have a tie – disaster!

Anybody got a spare tie that would complement my delightful bike and wouldn’t be impaired by a gallon of sweat?

Here’s a quick pictorial introduction to the new bike recruit.

The Brompton is squeezing alongside the other two bikes and trying to carve out a niche for itself.

So far it’s doing very well and I’m beginning to worry about what I’ll do with the other two.

I wonder if I could have a go at a sprint tri with it? It certainly needs to have a go at some sort of challenge event just to cement it’s street cred.

A marvel of British engineering.

Here it is in transition mode – notice the sweet pea holder built into the Brompton bag – how useful is that?

Just to continue the bike porn theme, here it is in full glory.

I’ll just finish by plugging the WizzBike – the best bike shop I’ve come across so far. Superb service, it’s based in Brentford but well worth the trip if you are interested in Bromptons, folders or Pashleys.